Down that Road Again
by Zaidie
Summary: Between searching for a young teen and fighting growing feelings for a new colleague, Danny finds himself struggling to help Martin through his out of control drug addiction. Martin/Danny friendship, minor Danny/Elena pairing. Complete.
1. Rude Awakenings

Disclaimer: I don't own Without a Trace, any of the characters, storylines, or actors.

A/N: This fic is set after the season 4 episode 'Patient X', and is a different way that Martin's addiction could have played out. The main focus is Danny/Martin friendship but includes some minor Danny/Elena pairing. I hope you enjoy. And as always feedback is loved.

* * *

A shrill ringing jolted through the silence of Danny Taylor's dark bedroom. Through sleep-blurred eyes he peered at the illuminated numbers on his alarm clock, which informed him that it was precisely 2:27 am. Swearing loudly, Danny fumbled to find his cell phone from side table. _Could they not make it through one whole night without a case?_

"Hello?" Danny asked tiredly into the cell, only to hear the horribly loud ringing again. It took him several moments to realized it was actually his home phone ringing. Not even bothering to try to figure and guess who could be calling him if it was not work, he rolled over and shut his eyes against the noise.

After two more annoying rings he grabbed the receiver from his bedside table. "What!?" he demanded impatiently into the phone.

For a moment there was only silence on the other end of the phone, which only served to exacerbate Danny all the more. Then quite faintly, Danny heard a voice on the far end of the phone, "Danny. . . help. . ."

The short message was followed immediately by a loud clanking noise, as though something had been knocked over on the other end of the line. Suddenly fully awake, it took Danny only seconds to place the familiar voice.

"Martin? Are you there?" he called worriedly into the phone. No response. Danny waited only a moment longer before scrambling out of bed and grabbing the closest available clothes - which happened to be the ones he had been wearing the previous day.

Snatching his cell and keys he dashed out of his apartment, stopping only long enough to lock the door. On the way down to his car he dialled Martin's home number. The blaring beep he received indicated Martin's phone was busy. . . or off the hook. He terminated the call and dialled a second number.

"911, state your emergency," came the immediate response.

Danny explained as best he could what had happened and the 911 dispatcher informed him an ambulance was on the way. He slammed the phone shut as he reached his car, and pushed the car into gear. Thankfully traffic was light due to the early hour.

Having made good time across town Danny arrived outside Martin's apartment building only seconds behind the ambulance. He followed the two paramedics to Martin's door. One of the paramedics knocked firmly on the door and looked to his partner skeptically when there was no response.

Danny motioned them out of the way, and with a single well-placed kick he broke the door open. His precision earned him curious glances from the two paramedics. Ignoring their looks, he lead the way into the apartment.

Inside the apartment was a mess – dishes, and food containers left laying around, clothes pilled anywhere. The mess of blankets on the couch showed clearly that Martin had been sleeping there. Danny's trained eye took all this in, before noticing the phone hanging down from a counter. He followed the cord down to the ground to where the receiver lay abandoned on the floor next to Martin's unmoving form.

The two emergency personnel had also noticed Martin's condition and made their way through the dissembled apartment towards him. Kneeling beside Martin the first medic checked his vitals.

"He's got a pulse," the paramedic announced shortly.

Danny slumped against the wall relieved, and watched as the paramedics assess his friend's condition. One held up a small object for the other to see. They exchanged a few words and together they loaded Martin onto a collapsable stretcher.

"He's going to be ok," one of the paramedics assured Danny over his shoulder.

Nodding numbly, Danny watched as the two men lifted the stretcher and wheeled his friend past him. He followed them back outside and stood by, feeling useless, as they loaded Martin into the back of the ambulance.

"You coming?"

Danny looked up blankly at the paramedic. It took a moment before the man's question registered in his shocked state. Finally, he nodded and climbed into the back of the ambulance. He looked down worriedly at Martin, who was lying still on the stretcher.

"He overdosed," the paramedic informed him bluntly.

He knew Martin had been different lately, and Danny knew the signs of addiction all too well. He should have confronted Martin about it. He should have been there to help him. Dropping his head into his hands Danny mentally berated himself about all the things he could have done differently. He had just wanted to believe he was wrong, that it was not drugs.

- - - - - -

The ambulance was just pulling into the hospital as Danny cell phone rang from his jacket pocket. Wearily he reached for it, "Taylor."

"Danny, sorry to have to wake you," Jack's voice came across the line sounding as tired as Danny felt, "But we've got a case, I need you to meet me at the scene asap."

"Jack, I – I can't," Danny replied slowly, "I'm going to take awhile to get in, it would be best if you had Sam or Viv meet you at the scene. I can be at the office in maybe an hour."

"What's going on?" Jack asked, his tone concerned.

Danny stepped out of the way as the paramedics wheeled Martin past him. "It's Martin." Danny explained hesitantly. "He collapsed, I had to call an ambulance."

"Is he okay?"

"The paramedics said he'll be all right," Danny replied, then added, "I'll meet you at the office then?" He did not want to talk about this with Jack right now.

"Sure. I'll have Sam and Viv come help with the scene," Jack said before ending the call.

Sighing Danny followed the medics into the hospital and approached the front desk. "Excuse me," Danny asked the receptionist politely, "could you possibly have someone phone me at this number when he wakes up?"

"Are you family?" She asked.

"Well, no," Danny admitted, "But I'm a very close friend. Please just call me when he wakes up." He added a pleading tone to his voice, and she consented. After thanking her, Danny headed out to catch a cab. He had left his car at Martin's and he desperately needed to go home and change into clean clothes before he showed up at work.

- - - - - -

It was nearly four when Danny arrived at the office. Elena was at her desk and a new photo and case number had been added to the white bored. Danny studied the picture. It was of a young teenaged boy, the photo showed dark brown hair, neatly combed, and a easy smiling face. The name beside the picture read Shawn Walker.

"He's fifteen. His father called it in when he came home from work early this morning and Shawn was gone. The others are still talking to the father and checking out the home," Elena supplied.

Danny nodded, barely registering the information his mind still dwelling on all the signs he had tried to write off as nothing. Deep down he known it was drugs, _I just did not want to have to face this again_.

"You going to be ok?" Elena asked, her concerned voice cutting into Danny's thoughts. When Danny gave her a questioning look she continued, "Jack said Martin was in the hospital, I know you and he are close."

Danny gave her a half-hearted, "I'm fine," before changing the subject abruptly. "What can I help with?"

Elena handed him a sheet, "I've just pulled his cell phone records, you can go through these." She suggested softly and watched Danny closely as he headed over to his desk. She could tell that he was deeply worried about his friend.

Sitting down at his desk Danny scanned down the list, and forcing himself to focus on the task at hand, he made a note of the most recent, and the most often called numbers.

~tbc~


	2. Past and Present

Disclaimer: I don't own Without a Trace, any of the characters, storylines, or actors.

* * *

The team was seated around the large table that was the centre piece of the bullpen. Jack had just finished giving Danny and Elena a run-down of their conversation with the boy's distraught father.

"As of yet, we aren't able to pin point the time of disappearance. The father left for work before five and got home around one-thirty. Shawn went missing sometime within that nearly nine-hour frame," Jack said with a sigh. "Let's see if we can't narrow it down some."

Danny handed Jack the phone list he had been working from. "This number," he said as he indicated the number, "Came up the most. And it's the last outgoing call on the log, made at quarter to five. It's registered to a Wesley and Hannah Gregson."

"Gregson? That was the last name his father gave on one of Shawn's friends," Jack said as he flipped through his notebook. "Alex Gregson."

"Makes sense, the kid calls his friend," Sam commented, "maybe they were getting together later."

Jack nodded, "Danny, you and Sam go talk to Alex, see when he last heard from Shawn."

Danny handed the sheet of numbers over to Jack. "His last received call came from this number. It's a cell number, I haven't had time to trace it yet," he explained as he stood up along with Sam.

As Jack passed the paper along to Elena he said, "Okay, we'll run that number. Get back to me after you talk to the friend."

- - - - - - -

The silence that hung between the two tired agents in the car was tension-filled. In the driver seat Danny sat stiffly, focussing his attention solely on the road ahead. Beside him Sam sat unconsciously fidgeting with anything she lay her fingers on.

Sam was the first to break the silence. "How is he?" she asked quietly, her faltering voice betraying her fear for Martin. Despite having broken up, Danny could tell both Sam and Martin cared deeply for one-another.

"They say he'll be fine," He replied flatly. It was true enough that Martin would recover readily from the overdose itself. However, Danny also knew from personal experience, that the road to recovery from an addiction was a long, obstacle-ridden path. And it was not a road that could be travelled alone.

If only he had confronted Martin about it before, perhaps he could have prevented this. He was Martin's best friend. He should have been there to support his friend through his time of need.

"What happened?" Sam asked cutting through Danny's thoughts.

Taking his time to slowly shoulder check as he changed lanes Danny did not answer right away. "I don't know all the details." Danny mumbled finally. He hated lying but he just could not find the words to tell Sam about Martin's drug addiction.

Sam shot him a quizzical look from the passenger seat but Danny pretended not to notice. Cutting off any further questions Sam had, Danny changed the topic by asking Sam what she thought about the case. The truth was he just could not deal with talking about Martin right now. He had not even figured out how to deal with how he felt about it yet. He wanted to help Martin, but the entire situation brought up a lot of things from his past he was not sure he could go through again.

- - - - - -

They arrived at the friend's house and Danny knocked sharply on the door. It was a moment before the door was opened by a tired looking middle-aged man.

"Mr. Gregson? I'm special agent Spade, and this is special agent Taylor. We're with the FBI," Sam said in introduction as she showed the man her badge. "Could we speak with Alex?"

"This is about his friend? Shawn's dad phoned earlier asking about him," The man said. When Sam nodded in confirmation he stepped back from the door, "Come in then."

Mr. Gregson showed Danny and Sam into the living room and returned momentarily with his teenaged son at his side. "Son, they want to talk about your friend, Shawn."

"Alex, when did you last talk to Shawn?" Sam asked pulling out a notepad.

"He was here last night. He came over after dinner for a few hours," Alex replied as he flopped down on a sofa across from where the two FBI agents were seated.

"What time did he leave?" Danny asked forcing his mind to focus on the conversation.

"I dunno, about seven-thirty I guess," came the muttered response.

"How did he seem? Was anything bothering him lately that you noticed?" Sam questioned.

"Dunno, he seemed the same, I guess," Alex replied with a shrug, then added, "Although, we haven't spent as much time together in the last month or so. Lately, he's always busy after school.. I thought he might have made some new friends."

Sam made a note of that possibility in her notebook before she ran through the usual questions. Unfortunately, Alex did not seem to be able to shed much light on Shawn's disappearance.

"Was Shawn doing any drugs or drinking a lot?" Danny asked when Sam had finished her questions.

"Not really. I think he's tried a few things at a party or something," Alex muttered avoiding his father's gaze.

"Okay, I think that's about it," Sam said closing her notepad and standing up. "Thanks for your help Alex. If you remember anything else that might help, give us a call okay?"

"Sure," Alex replied taking the number Sam offered to him.

- - - - - -

"Malone," Jack said answering his phone.

"Jack, it's Sam. Alex didn't have much to say, however, Shawn was here last night. Apparently he left for home at about seven-thirty. But other than that, Alex said he hadn't seen much of Shawn in the last month or so. We have no idea if the kid even made it home."

"Well it's a start anyway. Elena pulled a name off that number Danny gave her. It belongs to a cop. Viv and I are headed over to his precinct now. I'll get Elena to run down any reported crimes between Alex's house and Shawn's apartment."

"Okay. We'll be back at the office in about 15," Sam replied before terminating the call. Turning to relay the information to Danny she noticed he was leaning against the car holding his cell phone to his ear. As she walked over she caught the tail end of his conversation.

"Thank you. I appreciate you keeping me updated."

"Was that the hospital?" She asked as he closed his phone.

"Yeah. Martin's doing better," he said emotionlessly as he pulled the door to the car open. Sam slid into the passenger seat and waited expectantly for Danny to elaborate. She felt almost like she was reliving the nightmare of after Martin had been shot. She had waited desperately for update on his condition then too.

Danny stuck the key in the ignition with more force than necessary, and started the car. Silently he put the car into drive and pulled onto the road, offering nothing further on his conversation.

~tbc~


	3. Truths and Denial

Disclaimer: I don't own Without a Trace, any of the characters, storylines, or actors.

* * *

Danny stood in the hospital entrance. He had driven Sam back to the office, then called and asked Jack to be excused briefly from the case to see Martin. Now that he had arrived at the hospital, Danny realized he had no idea what he intended to say to his friend.

As it was, Danny disliked hospitals. And when he was visiting someone he knew, he found them even worse, virtually unbearable. He always felt so useless, standing by, knowing someone he cared about was in pain and unable to do anything. After taking in a deep, calming breath, Danny headed off to find Martin's room.

He was part way into the room when a low voice behind him stopped him short. Turning, Danny found a man wearing a white lab coat standing behind him.

The doctor extended his hand. "I'm Dr. Hamilton, the receptionist told me you were on the way," The man said as an introduction.

Danny nodded as he accepted the doctor's hand in a firm shake. "You're Martin's doctor?"

"Yes, he's awake now, so you can go in and talk to him," Dr. Hamilton confirmed, "However, I was wondering if you knew his family. There are some matters I would like to discuss with them."

"His family isn't from around here," Danny replied. "But this is about the drugs right?" Danny guessed knowing the doctor would want to inform Martin's family about the drug abuse in hopes of getting him into a rehabilitation program.

Dr. Hamilton nodded. "You're aware of his drug abuse then?"

"Only because of the overdose," Danny admitted. "He was injured awhile ago, and I knew he was taking pain medication, but I didn't know. . ." Danny trailed off, knowing that he should have known. _He had seen the signs. Signs he knew well, from all too personal experiences_.

"Then perhaps you should know, the bottle the paramedics found with him was not prescribed to him." Dr. Hamilton explained quietly. "As a friend of his, I would advise you get him help."

"Not his. . .?" Danny asked confused. He had assumed Martin had overdosed on the pain medication he had been prescribed after the shooting. How far gone was Martin that he had been using pills not prescribed to him. . . and just where had he got them?

"No," the doctor said, pulling the bottle out of his lab pocket and showing the bottle to Danny. Upon seeing Danny's startled reaction to the name on the bottle he added, "You recognize the name?"

Nodding Danny just stared silently at the bottle. Martin had stolen drugs from a victim's house to feed his addiction. Danny had just begun to accept that his friend was in need of help, but this. . . this was worse than he had realized.

"I can recommend several groups that help cope with addiction. Perhaps, if no family is available, you could discuss the options with your friend?" Dr. Hamilton suggested offering Danny several information booklets on various drug recovery groups.

Numbly Danny accepted the booklets and found himself alone at the doorway, watching Dr. Hamilton's retreating form disappear down the hall. After a moment, Danny turned and entered the quiet hospital room.

Martin was lying in the sterile hospital bed, facing away from the door, staring blankly out of the small window into the grey parking lot below. He was clearly still dopey from the drugs and did not hear his co-worker enter the room.

"Hey," Danny said quietly stopping at the side of the bed.

Martin rolled over and half-sat up. "Hey," he replied groggily.

"How are you feeling?" Danny asked lamely.

"Fine," came the muttered response as Martin turned away not meeting Danny's firm gaze.

Danny pulled a chair over from the corner and sat down. "You want to talk about it?" he asked patiently.

"About what?" Martin countered defensively.

"About the drugs," Danny replied with more of an edge in his voice than he had meant.

"There's nothing to talk about. It was an accident."

"An accident?" Danny repeated incredulously, his voice beginning to rise. "Martin, you have a problem, and you have to deal with it."

"No. I don't," Martin refuted coldly. "And I really don't think that this is any of your business."

"Like hell it isn't," Danny snapped, "It became my business when you decided to steal drugs from a victim."

Martin remained silent, staring fixedly out the window. He wanted Danny's help. He had wanted to go to Danny before. But somehow he just could not force himself to ask for the help, even though deep down he knew he needed it. Despite that, even now, he denied it. It felt the same as when he had taken the pills. He had not wanted to and yet. . . He had. He had needed them so badly, he had let his mind shut off and had just downed the pills.

"Look Martin," Danny tried again forcing his voice to remain level. "This is not your fault. Everyone's body has different tolerance levels. But you need to realize what you are doing. You're going to ruin your life if you don't get help now."

Unable to find a response Martin continued his silent examination of the parking lot. Part of him tried to argue that Danny was right, but as he had become accustomed to doing, he blocked out the logic reasoning._ It's not like he could turn back now anyway. _

Sighing Danny rose to his feet, "I'm leaving a few booklets on the table, okay?" He asked as he dropped the information packages that the doctor had given him on the table. "We have a case, so I have to get back. I'll come and see you later."

"Don't bother," was all the response Danny received as he headed out into the hospital hallway.

- - - - - -

Once in the parking lot Danny dropped his head into his hands. Not only had it been extremely hard for him to see his best friend like that, everything he had said just seemed wrong. _I'm supposed to be trying to support him through this and instead I ended up yelling at him. _

How did he expect to help Martin when he could not even deal with his own issues? His past struggles crashing back to him, even all these years later.

Danny considered going back into the hospital, after all Martin needed support and he was leaving him alone because he could not cope with the situation. Some friend he was.

Lost in his thoughts Danny sat alone in his car while the time ticked by. It wasn't until his cell phone shrill ring brought him back to reality that Danny realized he needed to get back and help with the case. A young boy was missing and despite everything else it was still his job to help find him and bring him home safely, if at all possible.

~tbc~


	4. Realization

Disclaimer: I don't own Without a Trace, any of the characters, storylines, or actors.

* * *

Danny arrived back at the office and trudged wearily into the bullpen. The team was seated around the conference table as Jack finished detailing the case's latest updates. Danny only realized he was walking in at the end of the briefing when Jack rose.

"Sam and I are heading out to see if we can track down the dealer Shawn had information on. Elena, keep working the records. Vivian, go visit the father again, see if he knew anything about all this."

Danny vaguely wondered if they were still working the same case. The picture on the board remained unchanged, but Danny had no idea what they were talking about. He supposed he might have a better idea if he had managed to show up for the update, instead of moping in his car and feeling sorry for himself.

Jack stopped as he went to pass Danny, "How is he?" he asked, his voice low.

"Better," Danny muttered.

Jack nodded. "Stay here and help Elena for now, she'll fill you in on the case," he instructed before turning to catch up with Sam who was already part-way down the hall.

Danny collapsed into his desk chair and took a long breath in an attempt to focus his mind on the case. Elena walked over and leaned against his desk.

"You okay?" she asked gently.

Nodding, Danny looked up at her, "Jack said you could update me. . .?"

"Yeah. It turned out that Shawn got collared with some drugs about a month back, but the cop let him off in exchange for some informant work. Apparently Shawn was supposed to give him some information on a dealer but the kid disappeared instead."

"What-the-hell kind of cop uses a fifteen-year-old as a drug informant?" Danny demanded disgustedly.

Elena shrugged sadly before returning to her own desk.

Danny watched her walk away and absently wondered why he had never noticed how attractive she was before. As soon as the thought formed, Danny pushed it from his mind. He could not get his life straight long enough to help his best friend. He should not be even thinking about some like that. _He did not deserve her. He would only hurt her anyway._

He turned away to face his computer where several opened files lay awaiting his attention. He immersed himself in the task at hand and, in his usual manner, managed to shut away all his thoughts. At least for the time being.

- - - - - -

Alone in the silent hospital room Martin forced his gaze away from the garbage can where he had dumped the booklets after Danny had left. He had not given them a single glance at the time, but now he found his thoughts being drawn back to them.

Since Danny had left, Martin had replayed their conversation over in his head several times. His body's physical longing for drugs tried desperately to convince him that he had been right to reject the offered help. However, the very fact that he was now lying here in the hospital, clearly emphasized how far gone he truly was.

He had seen addicts and their families during the course of his job. He knew how badly they hurt those who cared for them, not to mention themselves. _How had he managed to fall down to this level?_

Danny was his best friend, and he was hurting him deeply. Not just in the conversation they'd had, although Martin could guess talking about addiction would never be easy for Danny, but also in the previous days. Martin was now beginning to see how deeply the drugs had begun to affect his work.

He should not do that to Danny. He should not be doing this to himself. He could get help. . . lots of people did. . . _If only I were stronger. _

- - - - - -

Danny looked over the police file on his screen. Jack had just called and asked him to put together a profile on a dealer. The man had quite a lengthy list of priors. Danny shook his head trying to grasp that some cop would endanger the life of a kid just to increase his chances of collaring a dealer.

Printing out the photo he pinned it to a smaller board beside the time-line. The file had an address but Danny was skeptical of how helpful the several year-old address would be. Regardless, it was the best lead they had, assuming it was even this dealer who had caught onto to Shawn being an informant.

Since the rest of the team was still out, Danny and Elena were left to follow the new lead. Together the two Latino agents headed out to the parking lot. Danny unlocked the side door for Elena before heading around to let himself into the driver's side.

They drove in silence, which usually did not bother Danny. However, today he felt uncomfortable, wanting to find something to say to Elena but not sure as to what.

As they arrived, Danny pulled the car over to the curb in front of a deteriorating building. To him the place looked like it ought to have been condemned some time ago. Danny was no building inspector but he was quite certain this place was in violation of virtually every building code ever made.

Unsurprisingly the front door was unlocked, and swung open at Elena's cautious push. The inside smelled strongly of mould and a few other things that Danny was fairly certain he was better off not knowing the exact origins of.

Carefully, the two federal agents made their way to the apartment that had been listed on file. After knocking and receiving no response, Danny identified them as FBI. Still no one responded so Danny kicked in the door, which gave way readily. Inside the apartment was a disaster. While no one was currently inside the small apartment, Danny had the distinct impression that several squatters had come and gone since the last owner.

"Come on, let's go," Danny mumbled

After a quick glance around Elena agreed and followed Danny back out of the building. Once outside Danny called Jack, to inform him of their newest dead end. Jack and Sam had encountered about as much luck trying to trace down the dealer elsewhere.

Danny sighed as he climbed back into his car. It looked as though this case was just an increasing series of dead ends. _Kind of like my life_, he mused pitifully.

~tbc~


	5. The New Road

Disclaimer: I don't own Without a Trace, any of the characters, storylines, or actors.

* * *

Martin stared at the receiver in his hand for a long moment before dropping it back onto the cradle. He had been trying to place the call for a good half-hour now, but just could not find the words to say. What if it was too late to accept the help Danny had tried to offer?

Taking a deep breath, Martin forced himself to dial. After the third ring his resolve was wearing and he was just about to hang up when his friend's voice came clearly over the line.

"Taylor."

"Hey, Danny," Martin said, after a short pause.

"Hey," came the tentative reply. Danny sounded almost defensive, but Martin really could not blame him. Not after how Martin had treated him last time they had spoken.

"I'm so sorry Danny. I really am," Martin blurted. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

The pause on the other end momentarily caused Martin to wonder if Danny had hung up until the slow reply came, "I know you didn't."

Hearing Danny's simple acceptance of his apology should have made Martin feel better, he knew, but sitting alone in the hospital room clutching the phone he felt so alone. So afraid. He was beginning to understand he could never fix this on his own. "I'm scared," he admitted quietly over the phone.

"Its okay to be afraid," Danny's voice reassured him, "You can beat this."

"Will you help me?" Martin asked, vaguely aware he must sound pathetic.

"Of course I will. I can't promise you it will be easy, but I can promise to be with you when you need me."

Feeling relieved Martin told Danny that he had been medically cleared and was heading home. He had already decided he was not ready to go back to work quite yet, but he'd had more then enough of this hospital room in the short time he had been here.

"Thank you for everything," Martin added before hanging up the phone. He felt tired and his body was beginning to long for another fix, but otherwise Martin felt better than he had in a long time. He finally felt like he was on the right path again. _The path to recovery. _

- - - - - -

Danny was sitting at his desk, alone, staring down at the phone he had just placed down. Martin had taken the first step – he had realized he needed help, and he had chosen to call Danny. He was ready to start fighting the addiction. And like any good friend, Danny had promised to be there, promised to see him through the rough times.

Deep inside, Danny desperately hoped he would not fail his best friend. The memories this had brought up for him had not been pleasant. They were memories he had filed away deeply so as to never have to deal with them. He was quite certain it was not the 'healthy' way to deal with his painful past. However, it was the only way he knew how.

The more he thought about it, the more he was becoming certain he was not the best person to be helping Martin through this. How was he supposed to help when he had thought about giving in and drinking eight separate times today alone?

Hearing someone calling him Danny pulled his mind out of the past and turned to see Elena standing a short distance away.

"Danny, they've found a body. It could be Shawn. Jack asked us to go meet the cops at the scene," she told him sadly.

Danny nodded numbly. He hated it when they were too late. Especially when it was just a kid. He got up and silently followed Elena out to the car.

- - - - - -

The small alley had been taped off and Danny caught sight of the coroner at the end of the alley. Together Elena and Danny flashed their badges and were admitted past the yellow tape.

Danny stared down and the lifeless teenage boy. He sighed sadly. "That's definitely him."

Elena agreed, "I'll tell Jack."

"Poor kid," Danny said turning away unable to look at the still youthful body any longer. He headed slowly back to lean against the side of the car while Elena placed the call to Jack. He always hated when cases ended like this, but this time it felt even worse. He had been so distracted all day he could not help but wonder if he could have done more. If only he'd been more focussed on the case and not moping in his past, maybe it could have ended differently.

Elena came up beside him. "Tough case," she said quietly.

Danny said nothing, he only nodded before turning to open the car door for Elena.

"Vivian is going to go break the news to the father. You should head home. You look worn out," Elena said gently.

"I'm fine. We still have the paperwork to do," Danny replied knowing that going home to his empty house was not what he wanted at the moment.

Elena looked about to argue but decided against it. Instead they fell into a silence as Danny drove them back to the office.

When they arrived, Sam was starting on the paperwork and Jack was at the white board removing the picture of the young smiling teen. Jack slipped the photo into the case file and headed Danny off before the stressed out agent could sit down at his desk.

"How about you take off a little early today?" Jack suggested quietly so that the other two members of the team could not hear. "You've had a long day."

Danny shook his head. "I'm fine really."

"If you don't want to take the time for you, take it for Martin. He could probably use your company," Jack suggested. He was deeply worried about both his agents. He had gotten most of the details on Martin's overdose from the hospital, and he knew that Danny was stressed about both his friend and the case.

Reluctantly, Danny consented, grabbing his stuff he headed off. Casting a look back into the bullpen from the hall he could see Elena watching him leave, with a concerned look on her pretty face. He sighed and turned away.

- - - - - -

Martin was sitting on his couch, half dozing in front of the tv, when his door buzzer rang. He got up and opened the door. Outside, in the hall, he found a very worn-out looking Danny.

"Hey," he said a little surprised to see his friend. He had figured that the team was on a case.

"Hey," Danny replied as he came into Martin's entrance.

"You guys don't have a case?" Martin asked conversationally.

Danny just shook his head. Together the two friends moved into Martin's living room. Martin turned on a football game and the two men sat down and for a time let their problems fall away, while they simply enjoyed each other's company.

~fin~


End file.
